Trump praised Islamic terror group White Helmets via State Dept. proclamation, 3/16/19. He said these heroes “have the most dangerous job in the world….US government strongly supports work of White Helmets” in Syria. He also gave them $5 million more US taxpayer dollars

Added: White Helmets is a glamorous terror group. (Being glamorous, perhaps the group was vetted by Ivanka. When Trump is re-elected, White Helmets and Ivanka will likely be given keys to the US Treasury)

“The White Helmets are formally an independent organisation registered in Turkey, but in practice they are closely tied to Stichting Mayday Rescue Foundation (Mayday), the implementing partner for the majority of the White Helmets’ donors. Both organisations have their headquarters in the same office building. The White Helmets are supported by the governments of the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and the US. Most donors provide support through Mayday,whereas the US provide support through the US contractor Chemonics. According to Mayday, between 2014 and 2018 the programme funds totalled USD 127 mln., of which USD 19 mln. comes from private parties. The Netherlands has contributed almost EUR 10 mln. during this period….

While their M&E [Monitoring and Evaluation] capacity has improved, there remain crucial limitations in the M&E system. These include a ToC and a results framework of poor quality, and an absence of independent programme results and risks verification. Support to the White Helmets lacks donor coordination, resulting in limited donor insight into who finances which parts of the entire joint project….

Mayday and the White Helmets are closely intertwined and many donors have difficulties understanding their joint and separate responsibilities. At the same time, linkages between Mayday and the donor group are less close. Due to its proximity to the project’s implementation and its direct interest in the White Helmet’s reputation, Mayday may well be perceived as lacking transparent risk monitoring and reporting mechanisms….It must be noted, however, that due to capacity issuesthe large majority of the volunteers is not actually vetted.At the individual volunteer level, information on vetting and on stipends and activities is gathered and analysed in a rather sophisticated online knowledge management system. Yet the quality of this system entirely depends on the quality of the information derived from the M&E [Monitoring and Evaluation] systems in place….

The financial system in areas controlled by the [Islamic terrorist] opposition in Syria has entirely shut down. The only way to transfer money into these areas is by using informal money transferring systems like Hawala (‘transfer’ in Arabic). This is an informal method of debt settlement, built on mutual trust of each party to the transaction….

“The movement of money into Syria is the largest risk. Diversion of stipends may occur, especially given the shrinking operational space for the opposition. There are no transparent ways of getting stipends to beneficiaries. Currently, this is done by moving cash across the border and by using the Hawala system. It is problematic that Mayday does not possess information about the amount of money being transferred into Syria using the Hawala vs. the amount of money being transferred into the country using cash. • There is a certain risk of diversion of equipment by armed or [Islamic terrorist] extremist groups. Thia is considered acceptable to donors, especially since the materials can mainly be used to save human lives or repair damaged buildings. • White Helmets are also active in areas controlled by (non-acceptable) armed groups. Sometimes, therefore, communication between the White Helmets and, for example, representatives of local councils is needed. This is unlikely to change given the shrinking space for the opposition. •… Another related risk is co-optation or other sorts ofinfluence exerted by [Islamic terrorist] extremist groups or by armed groups on White Helmets….

The White Helmets themselves are the primary source of information from implementation sites and all information about activities is based on self-reporting. There is only little triangulation with other sources of information on the ground. SREO and RMTeam are hired consultants to collect data on perceptions and stipends from the field, and are therefore not part of an actual on-the ground network….

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To date, there has not been an independent evaluation of the White Helmets and, therefore, no independent recommendations about improving the relevance/efficiency/effectiveness of the project have been formulated. It is in the best interest of all parties involved that an independent evaluation is performed shortly. In addition, the unclear and fragmented monitoring system does not allow for learning and improvement of the project as a whole.

“The White Helmets rescue organization has offered to help with firefighting effortsin northeast Syria where thousands of acres of farmland have been recently destroyed, but Syrian Kurds who control the area have responded by saying that the group is not welcome.”…